The Kappa Alpha Society (), founded in 1825, was the progenitor of the modern

fraternity A fraternity (from Latin language, Latin ''wiktionary:frater, frater'': "brother (Christian), brother"; whence, "wiktionary:brotherhood, brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club (organization), club or fraternal ...

system in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. It is considered to be the oldest national, secret, Greek-letter social fraternity and was the first of the fraternities which would eventually become known as the

Union Triad The term Triad is used to designate certain historic groupings of seminal college fraternities in North America. Union Triad The Union Triad is a group of the three oldest existing Greek-letter social fraternities in North America that were founde ...

. While several fraternities claim to be the oldest, Baird's Manual states that has maintained a continuous existence since its foundation, making it the oldest undergraduate fraternity that exists today. As of 2022, there are five active chapters in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

History

According to Baird's Manual, nine undergraduates at

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

Schenectady, New York Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

— John Hart Hunter, John McGeoch, Isaac W. Jackson, Thomas Hun, Orlando Meads, James Proudfit, and Joseph Anthony Constant of the class of , and Arthur Burtis and Joseph Law of the Class of —established the Society on from an informal group calling itself The Philosophers, which was established by Hunter, Jackson, and Hun in 1823. The organization represents the middle link between

secret societies A secret society is a club or an organization whose activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence a ...

literary societies A literary society is a group of people interested in literature. In the modern sense, this refers to a society that wants to promote one genre of writing or a specific author. Modern literary societies typically promote research, publish newsle ...

, and Greek-letter organizations like

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

. In the words of founding member Arthur Burtis: The first expansion of the Society took place in at Williams College at the request of fourteen students led by Azariah S. Clark of the class of 1834. The Kappa Alpha Society, emulated by

Sigma Phi The Sigma Phi Society () was founded on the Fourth of March in the year 1827, on the campus of Union College as a part of the Union Triad in Schenectady, New York. It is the second Greek fraternal organization founded in the United States.

(est. ) and

Delta Phi Delta Phi () is a fraternity founded in 1827 at Union College in Schenectady, New York consisting of ten active chapters along the East Coast of the United States. The fraternity also uses the names "St. Elmo," "St. Elmo Hall," or merely "Elmo" ...

(est. ), constitute the

, the pioneers of the North American system of social fraternities. This organization is not to be confused with the

Kappa Alpha Order Kappa Alpha Order (), commonly known as Kappa Alpha or simply KA, is a social Fraternities and sororities, fraternity and a fraternal order founded in 1865 at Washington and Lee University, Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) i ...

, a completely separate national fraternity.

Chapters

Chapters are designated with an abbreviation of the institution's

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

name. Active groups indicated in bold, inactive groups indicated by ''italics''.Some chapter information taken from The main archive URL i
The Baird's Manual Online Archive homepage

Coeducation

The Union and Wesleyan chapters were co-educational (male and female members) in the recent past. The chapter at Wesleyan University, which existed from to about , was at various times co-educational both as part of The Society and as a local starting in . The Union chapter was co-ed from until . There are currently no co-educational chapters.

Contributing members

* John Hart Hunter, Union College, 1824. Founder. *

Fitz Hugh Ludlow Fitz Hugh Ludlow, sometimes seen as Fitzhugh Ludlow (September 11, 1836 – September 12, 1870), was an American author, journalist, and explorer; best known for his autobiographical book ''The Hasheesh Eater'' (1857). Ludlow also wrote about hi ...

, Union College, 1856. Songwriter, author and editor.

Notable members

Over the course of its nearly 200-year history, The Kappa Alpha Society has produced a substantial number of notable members in widely varied fields.

References

*Kappa Alpha Society. (1881). ''A biographical record of the Kappa Alpha Society in Williams College, Williamstown, Mass.: From its foundation to the present time. 1831-1881''. New York, NY: S. W. Green's Son. *Kappa Alpha Society. (2002). ''A directory of Kappa Alpha 2002: 175th anniversary edition''. Purchase, NY: Bernard C. Harris Publishing Company. *Tarleton, Robert S. (1993). ''The Spirit of Kappa Alpha: The oldest Greek-letter social fraternity in prose, poetry and picture''. New York, NY: John Hart Hunter Press. *The Executive Council of The Kappa Alpha Society. (1941). ''Kappa Alpha Record: 1825-1940''. Clinton, MA: The Colonial Press. *The Executive Council of The Kappa Alpha Society. (1950). ''Directory of the Kappa Alpha Society 1950''. St. Albans, VT: The North Country Press. *The Executive Council of The Kappa Alpha Society. (1960). ''Kappa Alpha Record 1825-1960''. Utica, NY: Thomas J. Griffiths Sons. *The Executive Council of The Kappa Alpha Society. (1976). ''Kappa Alpha Record 1825-1976: Sesquicentennial edition''. Ithaca, NY: Art Craft Printers. *Baird, William ed. Robson, John (1963)

879 __NOTOC__ Year 879 ( DCCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * April 10 – King Louis the Stammerer dies at Compiègne, after a reign ...

''Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities'' (17th ed.). Menasha, WI: George Banta Company, Inc.

External links

The Kappa Alpha Society
The Official Website of the Kappa Alpha Society
The Political Graveyard
U.S. Political Biographies

{{North American Interfraternity Conference Student organizations established in 1825 International student societies North American Interfraternity Conference Union College (New York) 1825 establishments in New York (state)